Verdigris fix

[Auraltuner@AOL.COM]

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>     
>      Dave, I'm curious about your method. In what form is the ether, where 
> do you get it , cost etc.  Also do you fall asleep on the job?  Tom Driscoll
> 
> 
Tom, I'm sorry for the delay in replying.  I tried to get ether from the auto 
supply store in the form of  an starting fluid.  I decided not to use these 
products because they have other ingredients in them.  I purchase my ether 
from a drug store (they order it for me).  It costs $20/ quart, and a quart 
barely will do a set of hammer flanges using the method I devised.  I'm sure 
this method could be improved and I am sure there are commercial sources of 
ether that are not as expensive.

My method couldn't be more crude.  I unpin the flanges and throw them is a 
coffee can.  I then cover them with ether, put the lid on the can, and shake 
them around for a minute or two.  Of course, I am doing this OUTDOORS.  To do 
it indoors would be quite lethal.  I remove them from the can and do the same 
to the bushed end of the shanks.  The ether evaporates instantly, it seems.   
When the parts come out of the ether, they are the color of new shanks.  The 
bushings dry in a matter of seconds.  They are free of all oil, grease, 
parafin etc. -- well, almost.  The remaining ether has turned green with 
vertigris and if you touch it, your finger feels waxy--because of the 
dissolved parafin.  If it is on your finger, it is also in the flange in 
minute amounts.  This is easily and inexpensively removed by a bath in 
acetone.  The resulting parts are dry-cleaned and free of any contamination 
that will corrode the new pin.  This is my claim and my hope.  I have used 
this method for three years now without a repeat problem.  As to five or ten 
years--who knows!  I'm betting is is a lasting fix because it removes the 
root cause of the problem, contaminants in the bushings.  As far as I can 
tell, it removes all of the subsequent contaminants that technicians have 
used to try to free the mess, including WD40.

It takes about 3 hours to treat a set of hammer flanges.  Well worth the 
effort.

Good luck trying it.  Don't smoke!

Dave Ireland, RPT

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